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AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT LEXINGTON, 



ON THE 19th (20th,) OF APRIL, 1835. 



BY E D VV A II D EVERETT. 



■^ 



Second Eldition. 



1857 



CHARLESTOWN: 
PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM W. WHEILDON, 



1835. 



Fellow citizens of Lexington, you are discharging your duty ; — a filial, 
pious duty. Tiie blood which wet these sods on the day you celebrate, 
must not sink uncommemorated into the soil. It is your birth-right; 
your heritage; the proudest you possess. Its sacred inruiory must be 
transmitted by your citizens, from father to son, to the end of time. 
We come to join you, in this solemn act of commemoration. Partakers 
of the blessings, for which your fathers laid down their lives, we come 
to join you in these last affecting obsequies. And when all now present 
shall be passing — passed — from the stage ; when sixty years hence, we, 
who have reached the meridian of life, shall have been gathered to our 
fathers, and a few only of these Ihtle children shall survive, changed 
iiilo what we now behold in the grey heads and venerable forms before 
us, let us hope that it may at least be said of us, that we felt the value 
of the principles to which the day is consecrated, and the cost at which 
they were maintained. 

We perform a duty which is sanctioned by reason and justice. It is 
the spontaneous impulse of the heart, to award the tribute of praise and 
admiration to those who have put every thing to risk and sacrificed 
everything in a great public cause, — who have submitted to the last dread 
test of patriotism, and laid down their lives for their country. In the 
present case, it is doubly warranted by the best feelings of our nature. 
We do not come to weave fresh laurels for the hero's wreath, to flatter 
canonized pride, to extol ttie renowned, or to add new incense to the 
adulation, which is ever offered up at the shrine of the conqueror : — But 
to give t!ie humble man his due, to rescue modest and untitled valor 
from oblivion ; — to record tl'.e names of those, whom neither the am- 
bition of power, the hope of promotion, nor the temptation of gain, — 
but a plain, instinctive sense of patriotic duty, — called to the field. 

Nor is it our purpose to rekindle the angry passions, although we 
would fain revive the generous enthusiasm of the day we celebrate. 
The boiling veins — the burning nerves — the almost maddened brain 
which alone could have encountered the terrors of that day, have with- 
ered into dust, as still and cold, as that with which they have mingled. 
There is no hostile feeling in that sacred repository. No cry for re- 
venge bursts from its peaceful enclosure. Sacred relics! Ye have not 
come up, from your resting place in yonder grave yard, on an errand of 
wrath or hatred. Ye have but come a little nearer to the field of your 
glory ; to plead that your final resting place may be on the spot where 
you fell ; — to claim the protection of the sods which you once moistened 
with your blood. It is a reasonable request. There is not an Ameri- 
can who hears me, I am sure, who would profane the touching harmo- 
ny of the scene, by an unfriendly feeling ; — and if there is an English- 
man present, who carries an Anglo-Saxon heart in his bosom, he will 
be among the last to grudge to these poor remains of gallant foes, the 
honors we this day pay to their memory. Though they i'ell in this re- 
tnote transatlantic village, they stood on the solid rock of the old liberties 
of Englishmen, and struck for freedom in both hemispheres. 

Fellow Citizens! The history of the Revolution is familiar to you= 
You are acquninted with it, in the general and in its details. You know 
it as a comprehensive whole, embracing, within its grand outline, the 
settlement and the colonization of the country, — the developement, 
maturity, and rupture of the relations between Great Britain and Amer- 
ica. You know it, in the controversy carried on for nearly a hundred 



and fifty years between the representatives of the people and the officers 
of the crown. You know it in the characters of the great men, who 
signalized themselves as the enlightened and fearless leaders of the 
righteous and patriotic cause. You know it in the thrilling inci- 
dents of the crisis, when the appeal was made to arms. You know it, 
— you have studied it, — you revere it, as a mighty epoch in human 
affairs; a great era in that order of Providence, which, from the strange 
conflict of human passions and interests, and the various and wonder- 
fully complicated agency of the institutions of men in society, — of in- 
dividual character, — of exploits, — discoveries, — commercial adventure, 
— the discourses and vvritmgs of wise and eloquent men, — educes the 
progressive civilization of the race. Under these circumstances, it is 
scarcely possible to approach the subject in any direction, with a well 
grounded hope of presenting it in new lights, or saying any thing in 
which this intelligent and patriotic audience will not run before me, 
and anticipate the words before they drop from my lips. But it is a 
theme tliat can never tire nor wear out. God grant that the time may 
never come, when those who, at periods however distant, shall address 
you on the 19th of April, shall have any thing wholly new to impart. 
Let the tale be repeated, from father to son, till all its thrilling incidents 
are as familiar as household words; and till the names of the brave men 
who reaped the bloody honors of the 19th of April, 1775, are as well 
kimwn to us, as the names of those who form tlie circle at our fire-sides. 
The events of the day we coimneinorate, of course, derive their inter- 
est from their connection with that struggle for constitutional liberty, 
which dates from the settlement of the country ; and which is beyond 
question the most important topic, in the history of free government. 
It presents to us a spectacle worthy of the deepest meditation. — full of 
solemn warning, and of instruction not yet exhausted. We are, at 
times, almost perplexed, with the phenomena which pass before us. 
We see our ancestors ; — a people of singular gravity of character, not 
turbulent nor impracticable, imbued with an hereditary love of order 
and law, and of a temper signally loyal ; engaged in a course of almost 
uninterriipted opposition to the authority of a goverimient, which they 
professed themselves at all times bound to obey. On the other hand, 
we see the British government, under all administrations, — whether 
animated by liberal principles or the reverse, — adopting measures and 
pursuing a policy toward the North American colonies, which excited 
discontent and resistance. It is not till after careful scrutiny, that we 
find the solution of the problem, in a truth, which, — though our fathers, 
some of them, at least, unquestionably felt its reality, — was never pro- 
fessed in any stage of the contest, till the Declaration of Independence, 
and then not as a general axiom, but as a proposition true in the then 
present case, viz : the inherent incongruity of colonial government with 
the principles of constitutional liberty. Such a government, — involv- 
ing as it almost of necessity does, the distance of the seat of power 
from the colony, — a veto on the colonial legislation, — an appeal from 
the colonial justice, — a diversion of the colonial resources to objects 
not necessarily connected with the welfare of the people, — together 
with the irritation produced by the presence of men in high office, not 
appointed by those who are obliged to submit to their authority, — 
seems, in its very nature, inconsistent with the requirements of consti- 
1* 



6 

tutional liberty, either in the colony or the mother country. It is bat 
half the mischief of the colonial system, that it obstructs the growth of 
freedom in the colony ; it favors the growth of arbitrary power, in the 
mother country. It may be laid down as the moral of the long and 
varied struggle, which was brought to a crisis on this spot on the 19th 
of April, 1775, that a colonial government can neither be exercised on 
principles of constitutional liberty, without gross inconsistency, nor 
submitted to by a free people, possessing numbers and resources which 
authorize resistance. 

The truth of this doctrine shines brighter and brighter, from each 
successive page in our colonial history. The very genius of tlie Brit- 
ish Constitution, — the love of liberty, which was our fathers' inheri- 
tance, — the passionate aversion to arbitrary power, which drove them 
into banishment from the pleasant fields of Enofland, — unfitted them 
for their colonial position and its duties. For this reason, the cares of 
the mother country were as wisely bestowed on the colonies, as those 
of the huntsman in the ancient drama, who nursed the lion's whelp in 
his bosom, and brought him up as the playmate of his children. It 
was the nature, not the vice of the noble animal, that, tame and gentle 
as a lamb at the beginning, he grew up to the strength and boldness of 
a lion, impatient of restraint, indicrnant at injury, and ready, at the 
first opportunity, to bound off to his native woods.* 

From this condition of tliinirs it resulted, that the statesmen on both 
sides the water, — as well in England as in America, — who took a lead 
in public affairs, were, to use the language of modern politics, in a 
false position, striving to do, what could not be done ; — to tax constitu- 
tionally without a representation, and to preserve allegiance in despite 
of everlasting opposition. It was one consequence of this unnatural 
state of things, tliat the real ground of the discontents was continually 
misapprehended, — that they were ascribed to temporary, local, and per 
sonal causes, — and not to the inherent nature o! the process which was 
going on, and of the impossibility of a cordial union of elements so 
discordant. This is peculiarly visible in the writings of Gov. Hutchin- 
son. This valuable historian was on the stage, for the entire genera- 
tion preceding the revolution. For more than thirty years before it 
broke out, he was a political leader in Massachusetts. From the close 
of the French war to the year 1775, he was probably the most confi- 
dential adviser of the Crown ; and for the chief part of the time the 
incumbent of the highest offices in its gift. He has brought the histo- 
ry of his native State down to the very moment, when, on the eve of 
the war, he left America, never to return. Learned, sagacious, wary, 
conciliatory, and strongly disjiosed, as far as possible, to evade the dif- 
ficulties of his position ; no man had better opportunities of knowing 
the truth, and after makinii proper allowance for his prejudices, few 
are entitled to greater credit in their statements. And yet, with all the 
sources of information in his reach, and all the opportunities enjoyed 
by liim to arrive at an enlarged conception of the nature of the contro- 
versy. Gov. Hutchinson seriously traces the origin of the revolution to 
the fact, that he himself was appointed chief justice, instead of James 
Otis, who aspired to the placet 

*iEschyl. Agamemn. 720. 

t From an anecdote preserved by Dr. Eliot, (Biograph. Diet. Art, Hutchinson,) it wonH appear, 
on ttie authority of Julje Trowbridge, that Otis also viewed the liuestion, in the same connection 
■Willi his own personal relations to it. 



But a more signal instance of this delusion was of much older date, 
than the opposition to the stamp act. The government party never 
understood the character of the people nor the nature of the contest ; 
and a most memorable proof of this is found, in an act of provincial 
legislation, at the early period of l(j94. In that year a step was taken 
by the court party, which shewed, in a most extraordinary manner, the 
extent of their infatuation. Before this time, it had been the practice 
in many of the country towns to elect, as their representatives to the 
General Court, citizens of Boston, who, either from being natives of 
the towns or for any other cause, possessed the confidence of those, by 
whom they were thus chosen. A number of members of this class, 
having voted against an address to his Majesty, ])raying the continu- 
ance of Sir William Phips in office, the Court party immediately 
brought forward and carried a l;ivv, forbiddmsf the election of any per- 
son as a representative, who did not reside in the town, by which he 
was chosen. Provision was thus made by law to compel the towns, 
even if otherwise disinclined to do so, to take an interest in public 
affairs ; and to secure from their own bosom a constant and faithful 
representation of the yeomanry. This was a court measure, designed 
to disqualify a few popular citizens of Boston, wlio had been elected 
for the country ; but it may be doubted whether any thing el>>e contri- 
buted more, to carry the great constitutional controversy home to the 
doors of every citizen of the community, and to link toirether the town 
and country, by the strongest bonds of political sympatliv. 

I need but allude to the measures, by which the revolution was at 
last brought on. The Boston Port Bill was a proof, that the British 
Ministry had determined to force matters to extremities ; and it awak- 
ened the liveliest sympathy, in the fate of Boston, from one end of the 
continent to the other. The acts of Parliament passed in 1774, for 
altering the mode of summoning juries and transporting obnoxious per- 
sons to England for trial, were direct violations of the charter ; and 
indicated the dangero-is policy of striking at the lives of individuals, 
under color of legal procedure. Nothing produces so great an exaspe- 
ration, as this policy, and no policy is so weak ; for the most insignifi- 
cant individual is made important by proscription ; while few are .so 
gifted, but their blood will prove more eloquent than their pens or their 
tongues. These threatening steps, on the part of the ministry, did but 
hasten the preparations for resistance, on the part of the people of 
America. A continental Congress was organized in 1774, and a pro- 
vincial Congress met, about the same time, in Massachusetts. Before 
the close of that year, the latter body had made arrangements for a levy 
of twelve thousand men in Massachusetts, as her share of twenty thou- 
sand to be raised by the New England colonies, and one fourth of the 
number to act as viinute men. By the same authority, magazines were 
established, — arms and munitions of war procured, and supplies of all 
kinds provided for a state of actual service. The greatest attention 
was paid to drilling and exercising the troops, particularly in the por- 
tions of the province, immediately contiguous to Concord and Worces- 
ter, where the military depots were established. A committee of safety, 
and a committee of supplies were clothed with the chief executive 
power. General officers, — principally the veterans of the French war, 
— were appointed to command the troops. As the royal forces in 



8 

Boston, were in the habit of making excursions into the neighboring 
country, for parade and exercise, it became necessary to decide the 
question, when they should be met with forcible resistance. It was 
resolved by the provincial Congress, that this should be done, whenever 
the troops came out with baggage, ammunition, and artillery, and other 
preparations for hostile action. Having thus made provision for the 
worst, the provincial Congress of Massachusetts adjourned early in 
December, 1774, to give the members an opportunity to keep the stated 
Thanksgiving with their families ; — and among the causes of gratitude 
to Almighty God, even at this dark and anxious period, which are set 
forth in the proclamation of the provincial Congress, they call upon 
the people to be devoutly thankful for the union of sentiment, which 
prevailed so remarkably in the colonies. 

The situation of Massachusetts, at that time, presents a most strik- 
ing and instructive spectacle. It contained a population, not far from 
three hundred thousand ; arrested in the full career of industrious oc- 
cupation in all the branches of civilized pursuit. Their charter was 
substantially abrogated by the new laws. Obedience was every where 
withheld from the arbitrary powers assumed by the government. The 
proclamations of the governor were treated with silent disregard. The 
port of Boston is shut, and with it much of the commerce of the pro- 
vince is annihilated ; for the neighboring seaport towns vie with each 
other, in a generous refusal to take advantage of the distresses of Bos- 
ton The courts are closed, and the innumerable concerns, which, in 
an ordinary state of things, require the daily and hourly interposition 
of the law, are placed under the safe guardianship of the public senti- 
ment of a patriotic community. The powers, assumed by the commit- 
tees of safety and supplies and by the provincial Congress, are obeyed, 
with a ready deference, never yielded, in the most loyal times, to the 
legal commands of tlie king's governors. The comnuinity, in a word, 
is reduced, — no, is elevated, — to a state of nature: — to a state of na- 
ture, in a hicrh and st>!emn sense, in which the feeling of a great im- 
pending common danger and the consciousness of an exalted and reso- 
lute common purpose, take tlie place, at once and with full efficacy, of 
all the machinery of constitutional government. It is thus that a peo- 
ple, fit for freedom, may get the subs^tance before the forms of liberty. 
Luxury disappears, a patriotic frugality accumulates the scattered ele- 
ments of the public wealth ; — feuds are reconciled ; — differences com- 
promised ; — the creditor spares his debtor ; — the debtor voluntarily 
acquits his obligations ; an unseen spirit of order, resource, and power 
walks, like an invisible angel, through the land ; — and the people 
thoughtful, calm, and collected, await the coming storm. 

The minds of the people throughout the country, had become thor- 
oughly imbued with the great principles of the contest. These principles 
had for years been discussed at the primary meetings in Massachusetts ; 
and the municipal records of many of the towns, at that period, are 
filled with the most honorable proofs of the intelligence and patriotism 
of their citizens. The town of Lexington stands second to none, in an 
early, strenuous, and able vindication of the rights of the colonies. In 
the year 1765, a very conclusive exposition of the question on the stamp 
act was adopted by the town, in the form of instructions to their repre- 
sentative in the general court. It is a paper not inferior to the best of 



the day. In 1767, the town expressed its unanimous concurrence, in 
the measures adopted by Boston, to prevent the consumption of foreign 
commodities. In 1768, a preamble and resolutions were adopted by the 
town, in which the right of Great Britain to tax America is argued with 
extraordinary skill and power. In 1772, their representative was fur- 
nished with instructions, expressed in the most forcible terms, to seek a 
redress of the daily increasing wrongs of the people. The object of 
these instructions is declared to be, that " thus, wliether successful or 
not, succeeding generations may know, that we understood our rights 
and libeities, and were neither afraid nor ashamed to assert or maintain 
them ; and that we ourselves may have at least this consolation, in our 
chains, that it was not through our neglect, that this people were en- 
slaved."* In 1773, resolutions of the most decided and animated 
character were unanimously passed, relative to the duty on tea. At 
numerous town meetings toward the close of 1774, measures were 
taken for a supply of ammunition, the purchase and distribution of arms, 
and other measures of military defence. A representative was chosen 
to the provincial congress, and the town's tax directed to be paid, not 
to the royal receiver general, but to the treasurer appointed by the pro- 
vincial congress. 

Although the part thus taken by Lexington was in full accordance 
with the course pursued by many other towns in the Province, there is 
nothing invidious in the remark, that the documents to which I have 
referred, and in which the principles and opinions of the town are em- 
bodied, have few equals and no superiors, among the productions of that 
class. They are well known to have proceeded from the pen of the 
former venerable pastor of the church, in this place, the Reverend Jonas 
Clark, who for many years previous to the revolution and to the close 
of his life, exercised a well deserved ascendancy in the public concerns 
of the town. To the older part of the citizens of Lexington it were 
needless to describe him : — they remember too well the voice, to which 
within these walls, they listened so long with reverence and delight. 
Even to those who are too young to have known him, tiie tradition of his 
influence is familiar. Mr. Clark was of a class of citizens, who 
rendered services second to no other, in enlightening and animating the 
popular mind, on the great questions at issue, — I mean the patriotic 
clergy of New-England. The circumstances, under which this portion 
of the country was settled, gave a religious complexion to the whole 
political system. The vigorous growth of transatlantic liberty was 
owing in no small degree to the fact that its seed was planted at the 
beginning by men, who deemed Freedom of Conscience a cheap pur- 
chase at any cost ; and that its roots struck deep into the soil of Puri- 
tanism. Mr. Clark was eminent in his profession, — a man of practical 
piety, — a learned theologian, — a person of wide general reading, — 
a writer perspicuous, correct, and pointed beyond the standard of the 
day, — and a most intelligent, resolute, and ardent champion of the 
popular cause He was connected, by marriage, v.'itli the family of 
John Hancock. To this circumstance, no doubt, may properly be 
ascribed some portion of his interest in the political movements of the 
time ; — while on the mind of Hancock, an intimacy with Mr. Clark 
was calculated to have a strong and salutary influence. Their con- 

* Lexington Town Records. — Fol. 209. 



10 

nection led to a portion of the interesting occurrences of the 19th of 
April, 1775. The soul-stirring scenes of the great tragedy, which was 
acted out on this spot, were witnessed by Mr. Clark, from the door of 
his dwelling, hard by. To perpetuate their recollection he instituted, 
the following year, a service of commemoration. He delivered himself 
an historical discourse of great merit, which was followed on the re- 
turns of the anniversary, till the end of the revolutionary war, in a series 
of addresses in the same strain, by the clergy of the neighboring towns. 
Mr. Clark's instructive and eloquent narrative, in the appendix to the 
discourse, remains to this day one of the most important authorities, fcr 
this chapter in the history of the Revolution. 

It may excite some surprise, that so great alacrity was evinced in the 
work of military preparation, by the town of Lexington, and other 
towns similarly situated, in the colonies. How are we to account for 
the extraordinary fact, that a village not of the first class in size, and 
not in any respect so circumstanced as to require its citizens to stand 
forth, in the position of military resistance, should have taken such 
prompt and vigorous measures of a warlike character ? This is a fact 
to be explained by a recurrence to the earlier history of the colonies. 
It is a truth to which sufficient attention has not, perhaps, been given, 
in connection with the history of the revolution, that in the two preced- 
ing wars between Great Britain and France, the colonies had taken a 
very active and important part.* The military records of those wars, 
as far as the province of Massachusetts Bay are concerned, are still in 
existence. The original muster rolls are preserved in the State House 
at Boston. I have examined a great many of them. They prove that 
the people of Massachusetts, between the years 1755 and 1763, per- 
formed an amount of military service, probably never exacted of any 
other people, living under a government professing to be free. Not a 
village in Massachusetts, but sent its sons to lay their bones in the 
West Indies, in Nova Scotia, and the Canadian wilderness. Judge 
Minot states, that in the year 1757, one third part of the etfective men 
of Massachusetts were, in some way or other, in the field, and that the 
taxes imposed on real property in Boston, amounted to two thirds of the 
income. In 1759, the General Court, by way of excusing themselves 
to Governor Pownall for falling short of the military requisitions of tliat 
year, informed him, that the military service of the preceding year had 
amounted to one million of dollars. They nevertheless raised that year 
six thousand eight hundred men ; a force which contributed mo.st es- 
sentially to the achievement of the great object of the campaign, the 
reduction ofCluebec. The population of Massachusetts and Maine, at 
that time, might have been half the present population of Massachu- 
setts ; the amount of taxable property beyond all proportion less. Be- 
sides the hardships of voluntary service, the most distressing levies were 
made on the towns by impressment, enforced by all the rigors of mar- 
tial law. 

These are not the most affecting documents in our archives, to shew 
the nature of that school of preparation, in which the men of 1775 were 
reared. Those archives are filled with the tears of desolate widows 
and bereaved parents. After the disastrous capitulation of Fort William 

* Some remarks were made on this subject, in an oration delivered at Worcegtor on the 4lti of 
July, 1833, by the author of thii address. 



11 

Henry in 1757, the Governor of Massachusetts invited those, who had 
relatives carried into captivity among the Canadian Indians, to give 
information to the Colonial Secretary, that order might be taken for 
their redemption. Many of the original returns to this invitation are 
on file. Touching memorials ! Here an aged parent in Andover, 
transmits the name of his " dear son," that he may have the benefit of 
" the gracious design" of the government. A poor widow at Newbury, 
states that her child, who was made captive at what she calls *' Rogers' 
great fight," was but seventeen years old, when he left her. And old 
Jonathan Preble of Maine, whose son and daughter-in-law were killed 
by the Indians at Arrowsick Island and six of their children, from the 
age of twelve years down to three months, carried into captivity, the 
same day, " makes bold," as he says, to send up the sad catalogue of 
their names. He apologizes for this freedom, on the ground of " hav- 
ing drank so deep" of this misery ; and then apparently reflecting, that 
this was too tender an expression for an official paper, he strikes out 
the words, and simply adds " having been deprived of so many of my 
family." The original paper, with the erasure and the correction, is 
preserved. 

In fact the land was filled, town and country, — and in proportion to 
its population, no town more than Lexington, — with men who had seen 
service, — and such service too ! There were few villages in this part 
of the Province, which had not furnished recruits for that famous corps 
of Rangers, which was commanded by Rogers and in which Stark 
served his military apprenticeship ; — a corps whose duties went as far 
beyond the rigors of ordinary warfare, as that is more severe than a 
holiday parade. Their march was through the untrodden by-paths of 
the Canadian frontier ; — the half-tamed savage, borrowing from civ- 
ilization nothing but its maddening vices and destructive weapons, was 
the Ranger's sworn enemy. Huntsman at once and soldier, his supply 
of provisions, on many of his excursions, was the fortune of the chase 
and a draught from the mountain stream, that froze as it trickled from 
the rocks. Instead of going into quarters when the forest put on its 
sere autumnal uniform of scarlet and gold, — winter — Canadian winter 
— dreary mid winter, — on frozen lakes, through ice-bound forests, from 
which the famished deer chased by the gaunt wolf was fain to fly to the 
settlements, called the poor ranger to tlie field of his duties. Some- 
times he descended the lake on skates ; sometimes he marched on snow 
shoes, where neither baggage-wagon nor beast of burden could follow 
him, and with all his frugal store laden on his back. Not only was the 
foe he sought armed with the tomahawk and scalping knife, but the 
tortures of the faggot and the stake were in reserve for the prisoner, 
who, for wounds or distance or any other cause, could not readily be 
sold into an ignominious slavery among the Canadian French. Should 
I relate all the hardships of this service, I should expect almost to start 
the lid of that coffin ; — for it covers the remains of at least one brave 
heart, who could bear witness to their truth. Captain Spikeman, who 
fell on the 21st of January 1757, raised his company, in which Stark, I 
believe was a lieutenant, principally in this neighborhood. The jour- 
nal of General Winslow contains the muster roll, and I find there the 
names of several inhabitants of Lexington. Edmund Munroe, (after- 
wards, with another of the same name, killed by one cannon ball at the 



12 

battle of Monmouth,) was of the staff in Rogers' regiment ; and Robert 
Muiiroe, whose remains are gathered in that receptacle, was an ensign 
at the capture of Louishourg in 1758. There could nut have been 
less than twenty or thirty of the citizens of Lexington, who had learned 
the art of war, in some department or other of the military colonial 
service. They had tasted its horrors in the midnight surprise of the 
savage foe, an i they had followed the banners of victory under the old 
provmcial leaders, Gridley and Thomas, and Ruggles and Frye, up to 
the ramparts of Q,uebec. No wonder that they started again at the 
sound of the trumpet ; no wonder that men, who had followed the 
mere summons of allegiance and loyalty to the shores of lake Cham- 
plain and the banks of the St. Lawrence, should obey the cry of in- 
stinct, which called them to defend their homes. The blood which 
was not too precious to be shed upon the plains of Abraham, in order 
to wrest a distant colony from the dominion of France, might well be 
expected to flow like water, in defence of all that is dear to man. 

From the commencement of 1775, a resort to extremities was mani- 
festly inevitable ; — but the time and mode, in which it should take 
place, were wrapped in solemn uncertainty. The patriots of the high- 
est tone, well knowing that it could not be avoided, did not wish it post- 
poned. Warren burned for the decisive moment ; — young, beloved, 
gifted for a splendid career, — he was ready, — impatient for the conflict. 
The two Adamses and Hancock, bore, with scarcely suppressed dis- 
content, the less resolute advances of some of their associates ; — and 
Quincy wrote from London in December 1774, in the following strain 
of devoted patriotism ; " Let rae tell you one very serious truth, in 
which we are all agreed, your countrymen must seal their cause with 
their blood. They must now stand the issue ; — they must preserve a 
consistency of character, they must not delay, they must [resist to 
the death,] or be trodden into the vilest vassalage, — the scorn, the 
spurn of their enemies, a by-word of infamy among all men!" 

In anticipation of this impending crisis, the measures of military 
preparation, to which I have alluded were taken. The royal Governor 
of Massachusetts had served in the old French war and did not under- 
value his adversary, but adopted his measures of preparation as against 
a resolute foe. Officers in disguise were sent to Concord and Worces- 
ter, to explore the roads and passes, and gain information relative to the 
provincial stores. At Medford the Magazine was plundered. An un- 
successful attempt was made to seize the artillery at Salem. On the 
30th of March, General Gage sent eleven hundred men out of Boston 
and threw down the stone walls, which covered some of the passes in 
the neighborhood. These indications sufficiently shewed, that an at- 
tempt to destroy the provincial stores at Concord and Worcester, might 
be expected ; a hostile excursion from Boston, on that errand, was 
daily anticipated, for some time before it to >k place; — and proper 
measures were taken, by stationing two persons on the look out, in all 
the neighboring towns, to obtain and propagate the earliest intelligence 
of the movement. 

In anxious expectation of the crisis, a considerable part of the people 
of Boston sought refuge in the country. Inclination prompted them to 
withdraw themselves from beneath the domination of what was now re- 
garded as a hostile military power ; and patriotism suggested the expe- 



13 

diency of diminishing, as far as possible, the number of those, who, 
\vhile they remained in Boston, were at the mercy of the royal Gov- 
ernor ; and held as hostages for the submission of their countrymen. 

In conjunction with the seizure of the Province stores, the arrest of 
some of the most prominent of the patriotic leaders was threatened. 
Hancock and Adams had been often designated by name as peculiarly 
obnoxious, and on the adjournment of the Provincial Congress, a strong 
opinion had been expressed by their friends, that they ought not to re- 
turn to the city. Hancock yielded to the advice and took up his abode 
in this place, — the spot where his father was born, — where he had 
himself passed a portion of his childhood, and where he found in his 
venerable connection, Mr. Clark, an associate of congenial temper. 
Beneath the same hospitable roof, Samuel Adams also found a cordial 
welcome. Thus, my friends, your village became the place of refuge 
and your fathers were constituted the guardians of these distinguished 
patriots, at a moment, when a price was believed to be set on their 
heads. 

Samuel Adams and John Hancock ! — Do you ask why we should 
pause at their names ? Let the proclamation of General Gage furnish 
the answer : "I do hereby, in his Majesty's name, promise his most 
gracious pardon to all persons, who shall forthwith lay down their arms, 
and return to the duties of peaceable subjects, excepting only from the 
benefit of such pardon, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose 
offences are of too flagitious a nature, to admit of any other considera- 
tion than that of condign punishment." 

The flagitious offences of Hancock and Adams were their early, unre- 
laxing, and fearless efforts, in defence of the rights of American freemen ; 
and the cordial co-operation of these men, in that great cause, unlike 
as they were in every thing else, is one of the most pleasing incidents 
of the history of the revolution. John Hancock would have been the 
spoiled child of fortune ; if he had not been the chosen instrument of 
Providence. His grandfather was for fifty-four years the pastor, with 
great authority, of this church, and his father, afterwards minister of 
Braintree, was born in Lexington. John Hancock was left an orphan 
at the age of seven years, and from that period, passed much of his 
time, in this village, and received a part of his education, at the town 
school. After leaving college, he entered the family and became asso- 
ciated in the business of his uncle, a distinguished citizen and a wealthy 
merchant in Boston, who shortly afterwards died, bequeathing to John 
Hancock a fortune of seventy thousand pounds sterling ; — the largest 
estate, probably, which had ever been amassed in the colonies. He 
was thus left at twenty-seven years of age, without parents, brought up 
in luxury, distinguished for personal appearance, voice, manners, and 
address, the master of a princely estate. He seemed, as it were, marked 
out by destiny, to pursue the tempting path of royal favor. He was 
accused of ambition. But what had he to gain by joining the austere 
ranks of those, who were just commencing the great battle of liberty ? 
He was charged with a love of display. But no change of public 
affairs could improve his private fortunes ; and he had but to seek them 
through the paths of loyalty, and all the honors of the empire, pertain- 
ing in any measure to his position, are at his command, on either side 
of the Atlantic. The tempter did whisper to him, that he might lead 



14 

a gay and luxurious existence, within the precincts of the court. But 
his heart was beneath yonder roof, where his father was born. In the 
midst of all the enjoyments and temptations of London, he remembered 
the school, where he had first learned to read his bible ; and exclaimed, 
amidst the seductions of tlie British metropolis, " If I forget thee. Oh ! 
New England, may my right hand forget her cunning." 

He witnessed the coronation of George III., and it was the immedi- 
ate spectacle of a life of court attendance, that taught John Hancock 
to prize the independence of a Boston merchant : — of an American 
citizen. He returned from England, to plunge, heart and soul, into 
the contest for principle and for liberty. He scattered his princely 
wealth like ashes. He threw his property into the form, in which it 
Would be least productive to himself, and most beneficial to the indus- 
trious and suffering portion of the community. He built ships at a 
time, not when foreign trade was extending itself, but when new re- 
strictions were daily laid upon the commerce of America, and the 
shipwrights were starving ; and he built houses, when real estate was 
rapidly sinking in value. He shunned personal danger as little as he 
spared his purse. On the retirement of Peyton Randolph from the 
chair of Congress in May 1775, he was called by the members of that 
venerable body to preside in their councils, and in that capacity, he 
had the singular good fortune to sign the commission of George Wash- 
ington, and the immortal honor to affix his name first to the Declara- 
tion of Independence. To the solid qualities of character he added 
all the graces of the old school ; and as if to meet the taunts, which 
were daily pointed at the rustic siuiplicity of the American cause, the 
enemies of the country beheld in its patriotic President, an elegance of 
appearance and manners unsurpassed at their own Court. When the 
rapid depreciation of Continental paper had greatly increased the 
distresses of the people, Hancock instructed his agents at home, 
to receive that poor discredited currency, with which his country was 
laboring to carry on the war, in payment of every thing due to him ; 
and when asked his o])inion in Congress of the policy of an assault 
upon Boston, he recommended the measure, although it would lay 
half his property in ashes. During all the distresses, which preceded 
the commencement of hostilities, while Boston was sinking under the 
privations of the Port Bill, Hancock not only forbore the enforcement 
of his debts, but literally shared his diminished income with his suffer- 
ing townsmen. Providence rewarded his warm-hearted and uncalcu- 
lating patriotism, witli the highest honors of the country ; — enabled him 
to build up his impaired estate out of the ashes of the Revolution ; and 
gave him a place as bright and glorious, in the admiration of mankind, 
" as if," — to use the words of Daniel Webster, " his name had been 
written in letters of light, on the blue arch of heaven, between Orion 
and the Pleiades." 

Samuel Adams was the counterpart of his distinguished associate in 
proscription. Hancock .served the cause with his liberal opulence, 
Adams with his incorruptible poverty. His family at times suffered 
almost for the comforts of life, when he might have sold his influence 
over the councils of America for uncounted gold, — when he might 
have emptied the British treasury, if he would have betrayed his 
country. Samuel Adams was the last of the Puritans ; — a class of men 



15 

to whom the cause of civil and religious liberty on both sides of the 
Atlantic, is mainly indebted, for the great progress which it has made 
for the last two hundred years ; and when the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence was signed, that dispensation might be considered as brought to 
a close. At a time when the new order of things was inducing laxity 
of manners and a departure from the ancient strictness, Samuel Adams 
clung with greater tenacity, to the wholesome discipline of the fathers. 
His only relaxation from the business and cares of life was in the in- 
dulgence of a taste for sacred music, for which he was qualified by the 
possession of a most angelic voice, and of a soul solemnly impressed 
with religious sentiment. — Resistance of oppression was his vocation. 
On taking his second degree, he maintained the noble thesis, that it is 
*' lawful to resist the supreme magistrate, if the Commonwealth cannot 
otherwise be preserved." Thus, at the age of twenty-one, twenty years 
before the stamp act was thought of, Samuel Adams, from the cloisters 
of Harvard College, announced in two lines, the philosophy of the 
American Revolution. His after-life shewed that his practice was not 
below his theory. On leaving college, he devoted himself for some 
years to the profession of divinity ; but he gave himself afterwards 
wholly to the political service of the country. He was among the ear- 
liest and ablest writers on the patriotic side. He caught the plain, 
downright, style of the Commonwealth in Great Britain. More than 
most of his associates, he understood the efficacy of personal intercourse 
with the people. It was Samuel Adams, more than any other individ- 
ual, who brought the question home to their bosoms and firesides, — 
not by profound disquisitions and elaborate reports, — though these in 
their place were not spared, — but in the caucus, the club-room, at the 
green-dragon, in the ship-yards, in actual conference, man to man and 
heart to heart. He was tbrty-six years of age, when he first came to 
the House of Representatives. There he was, of course, a leader ; a 
member of every important committee ; — the author of many of the 
ablest and boldest state papers of the time. — But the throne of his 
ascendency was in Fanueil Hall. As each new measure of arbitrary 
power was announced, from across the Atlantic, or each new act of 
menace and violence, on the part of the officers of the government or 
of the army, occurred in Boston, — its citizens, oftentimes in astonish- 
ment and perplexity, rallied to the sound of his voice, in Fanueil Hall ; 
and there, as from the crowded gallery or the moderator's chair, he 
animated, enlightened, fortified, and roused the admiring throng, he 
seemed to gather them together beneath the aegis of his indomitable 
spirit, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings. With his 
namesake John Adams, Warren, and Hancock, he perceived the inevi- 
table necessity of striking for Independence, a considerable time, before 
it was generally admitted. In some branches of knowledge he was ex- 
celled by other men ; but one thing he knew thoroughly, and that was 
Liberty. He began with it early, studied it long, and possessed the 
whole science of it. He knew it, class and order, — genus and species, 
— root and branch. With him it was no matter of frothy sentiment. 
He knew it was no gaudy May-day flower, peeping through the soft 
verdant sods of Spring, and opening its painted petals as a dew cup for 
midnight fairies to sip at. He knew it was an austere and tardy growth, 
'«='tbe food of men, long hungering for their inalieiiable rights, — a seed 



16 

scattered broad cast on a rough thougli genial soil, — ripening beneath 
lowering skies and autumnal frosts, — to be reaped with a bloody sickle. 
Instead of quailing, his spirit mounted and mantled with the approach 
of the crisis. Chafed and fretted with the minor irritations of the early 
stages of the contest, he rose to a religious tranquillity, as the decisive 
hour drew nigh, fn all the excitement and turmoil of the anxious days 
that preceded the explosion, he was of the few, who never lost their 
balance. He was thoughttul, — serious almost to the point of sternness, 
— resolute as fate ; but cheerful himself, and a living spring of ani- 
mation to others. He stood among the people a pillar of safety and 
strength : — 

As some tall cliff, that litis its awful form, 
Swells IVom the valu, and miriwiiy leaves ihe storm ; 
Though round its hreast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head. 

And so he looked forward to the impending struggle, as the consum- 
mation of a great design, of which not man but God had laid the foun- 
dation stone, on the rock of Plymouth ; and when on the morning of 
the day you now commemorate, the vollies of fire-arms from this spot 
announced to him and his companion, in the neighboring field, that the 
great battle of liberty had begun, he threw up his arms and exclaimed, 
in a burst of patriotic rapture, " Oh, what a glorious morning is this!" 
Yes! fellow citizens, such was the exclamation of Samuel Adams, 
when a thousand British troops were in possession of your village, and 
seven of your citizens were struggling in the agonies of death. — His 
prophetic soul told him, that the divine form of his country's liberty would 
follow on, the next personage in that fearful but all-glorious pageant. 
He saw that the morning sun, whose first slanting beams weie dancing 
on the tops of the hostile bayonets, would not more surely ascend the 
heavens, than the sun of independence would arise on the clouded for- 
tunes of his country. The glory he foresaw has come to pass. Two 
generations attest the truth of his high-souled prophecy. And you, 
" village Hampdens, who, with dauntless breast" withstood, not " the 
petty tyrant of your fields," but the dread and incensed sovereign of a 
migiity empire, when he came in his embattled hosts to subdue you ;, 
you, who sealed your devotion to the cause by the last great attestation 
of sincerity, your blood has not sunk unprofitably into the ground. If 
your spirits are conscious of the honors we now pay your relics, you 
behold in the wide spread prosperity of the growing millions of Ameri- 
ca, the high justification of that generous impulse, which leu you, on 
that glorious morning, to the field of death I 

On Saturday the 15th of April, the provincial congress, then in ses- 
sion at Concord, adjourned to meet again, on the 10th of May. It is 
probable that the intelligence of this event had not reached General 
Gage in Boston, when, on the same day, he commenced his arrange- 
ments, for the projected expedition. The grenadiers and light infantry 
were relieved from their several stations in Boston, and concentrated 
on the common, under pretence of learning a new military exercise. 
At midnight following, the boats of the trans|)ort ships, which had been 
previously repaired, were launched and moored tmder the sterns of the 
men of war in the harbor. Dr. Warren, on his way home from the 
Congress on Saturday, had expressed to the family of Mr. Clark, his 



17 

firm persuasion, that the moment was at hand when blood would flow. 
He justly regarded the military movements of the following night, as a 
confirmation of this opinion, and despatched Colonel Paul Revere the 
next day, to this place, to bring the intelligence to Messrs. Hancock 
and Adams. They naturally inferred from the magnitude of the pre- 
parations, that their own seizure could not be the sole object, and ad- 
vised the committee of safety, then sittmg at West Cambridge, to order 
the distribution into the neighboring towns of the stores collected at 
Concord. Colonel Paul Revere, on his return to town, on Sunday, 
concerted with his friends in Charlestown, that two lights should be 
shown from the steeple of the North Church, if the British troops should 
cross in boats to Cambridge, and one, if they should march out, over 
Boston neck. 

Wednesday, the 19th, was fixed upon as the eventful day. Ten or 
twelve British officers were sent out the day before on horseback, who 
dined at Cambridge; and at nightfall scattered themselves on the roads 
to Concord, to prevent the communication of intelligence from the town. 
Early information of this fact was brought to this place, by Solomon 
Brown* of Lexington, who returned late from Boston market on the 
afternoon of the 18th, and passed them and was passed by them, sev- 
eral times, as they sometimes rode forward or fell back on the road. 
A despatch to the same effect was also sent by Mr. Gerry, of the com- 
mittee of safety, at West Cambridge, to Mr. Hancock, whose answer, 
still preserved, evinces the calmness and self-possession, which he 
maintained at the approaching crisis. In consequence of this informa- 
tion, a guard of eight men, under the late Col. William Munroe, then 
a sergeant in the Lexington company, was marched, in the course of 
the evening, to Mr. Clark's house, for the protection of Messrs. Adams 
and Hancock. At the same time, Messrs. Sanderson, Loring,f and 
Brown, were sent up towards Concord, to watch the movement of the 
officers. They came upon them unawares in Lincoln and fell into 
their hands. About midnight Colonel Paul Revere, who had left Bos- 
ton, by direction of Dr. Warren, as soon as the movement of the 
troops was discovered, and had passed by the way of Charlestown, 
(where he narrowly escaped two British officers,) through Medford, and 
West Cambridge, giving the alarm at every house on the way, — arrived 
at Mr. Clark's with despatches from Dr. Warren, for Hancock and 
Adams. Passing on towards Concord, Revere also fell into the hands 
of the British officers in Lincoln, but not till he had had an opportunity 
of communicating his errand to young Dr. Prescott of Concord, whom 
he overtook on the road. At the moment Revere was arrested by the 
officers, Prescott succeeded in forcing his way through them, and thus 
carried the alarm to Concord. The intelligence sent by Dr. Warren 
to Messrs. Hancock and Adams, purported that " a large body of the 
King's troops, (supposed to be a brigade of 1200 or 1500 men,) had 
embarked in boats from Boston." 

After the detention of an hour or two in Lincoln, the British officers 
were informed by Colonel Revere, of all the measures he had taken to 
alarm the country ; and deemed it expedient for their own safety to 

* Mr. Brown is still livng, but from tlie distance of his place of residence, was not able to at- 
tend, witb the other survivors of Captain Parker's company, (eleven in numbor,J the celebrttion 
the anniversary. 

t Mr. Loring was present on the stage, at the delivery of this address. 
2* 



18 

hasten back toward Boston. On their way toward Lexington, they put 
many questions to their prisoners, as to the place where Messrs. Ad- 
ams and Hancock were residing. As they approached Lexington, they 
alarm bell was ringing and a volley was fired by some of the militia, 
then assembling on the green. Upon this they hastened their flight, 
and just as they entered the village their prisoners escaped from them. 
Colonel Revere repaired to the house of Mr. Clark, and the general 
apprehensions relative to" hi« distinguished guests, having been con- 
firmed by the interrogatories of the British officers, Messrs. Hancock 
and Adams were persuaded with great difficulty to withdraw from the 
immediate vicinity of the road. On the return of Colonel Revere to 
the centre of the village, he met Captain Thaddeus Bowman coming 
up tlie road, in full gallop, with the news that tlie British troops were 
at hand. 

It was at this time, between four and five o'clock in the morning. 
Three messengers had been sent down the road, to ascertain the ap- 
proach of the British army. The two first brought no tidings, and the 
troops were not discovered by the third. Captain Bowman, till they 
were far advanced into the town. They bad been put in motion about 
seven hours before, on Boston common. They crossed in boats, near 
the spot where the Court House now stands in East Cambridge ; and 
there took up their march, from eight hundred to one thousand strong, 
grenadiers, light infantry, and marines. They crossed the marshes, 
inclining to their right, and came into the Charlestown and West Cam- 
bridge road, near the foot of Prospect hill. It was a fine moonlight, 
chilly night. No hostile movement was made by them, till they reached 
West Cambridge. The committee of safety had been in session in 
that place, at Wetherbee's tavern ; and three of its distinguished mem- 
bers, Vice-President Gerry, Colonel Lee, and Colonel Orne, had taken 
up their lodging for the night, at the same house. The village, having 
been alarmed by Colonel Revere, was on the alert at the approach of 
the army ; and Messrs. Gerry, Lee, and Orne, had risen from their 
beds and gone to their windows, to contemplate the strange spectacle. 
As the troops came up, on a line with the house, a sergeant's guard 
was detached to search it ; and the members of the committee had but 
a moment to escape by flight into the adjacent fields. 

It was now perceived by Colonel Smith, who commanded the Brit- 
ish detachment, that the country, on all sides, was in a state of alarm. 
The news had spread, in every direction, both by the way of Charles- 
town and Roxbury. The lights in the North Church steeple had given 
the signal, before the troops had fairly embarked. It was propagated 
by the alarm-belJ, from village to village ; vollies from the minute-men 
were heard in every direction ; — and as fast as light and sound could 
travel, the news ran through Massachusetts, I might say through New- 
England ; and every man as he heard it sprang to his arms. As a 
measure of precaution, under these circumstances. Colonel Smith de- 
tached six companies of light infantry and marines, to move forward 
under Major Pitcairne and take possession of the bridges at Concord, 
in order to cut off the communication with the interior of the country. 
At the same time also, he sent back to General Gage and asked a rein- 
forcement, a piece of forethought which saved all that was saved of the 
fortunes of that day. Before these detached companies could reach 



19 

Lexington, the officers already mentioned were hastening down the 
road ; and falling in with Major Pitcairne, informed him, that five hun- 
dred men were assembling on Lexington green to resist the troops. In 
consequence of this exaggerated account, the advance party was hatted, 
to give time for the grenadiers to come up. 

And thus, fellow citizens, having glanced at all the other movements 
of this memorable night, we are prepared to contemplate that, which 
gives interest to them all. The company assembled on this spot, and 
which had been swelled by the British officers to five hundred, con- 
sisted in reality of sixty or seventy of the militia of Lexington. On the 
receipt of the information of the excursion of the officers and the move- 
ment of the troops, a guard had been set, as we have seen, at the house 
of Mr. Clark, the evening before. After the receipt of the intelligence 
brought by Revere, the alarm bell was rung ; and a summons sent 
round to the militia of the place, to assemble on the green. This was 
done by direction of the commander of the comp ;ny. Captain John 
Parker, — an officer of approved firmness and courage. He had proba- 
bly served in the French war, and gave many proofs, on this trying oc- 
casion, of a most intrepid spirit. About two o'clock in the morning, 
the drum beat to arms, the roll was called, and about one hundred and 
thirty answered to their names ; — some of them alas, — whose ashes, 
now gathered in that depository, invoke the mournful honors of this 
day, — for the last time on earth. Messengers were sent down the road 
to bring intelligence of the troops ; and the men were ordered to load 
with powder and ball. One of the messengers soon returned with the 
report, that there were no troops to be seen. Li consequence of this 
information, as the night was chilly, in order to spare the men, already 
harrassed by the repeated alarms which had been given, and to relieve 
the anxiety of their families, the militia were dismissed ; but ordered 
to await the return of the other expresses, sent down to gain a know- 
ledge of the movements of the enemy, and directed to be in readiness, 
at the beat of the drum. About half the men sought refuge from the 
chill of the night, in the public house still standing on the edge of the 
green ; the residue retired to their homes in the neighborhood. One 
of the messengers was made prisoner by the British, who took effectual 
precautions to arrest every person on the road. Benjamin Wellington 
hastening to the centre of the village, was intercepted by their ad- 
vanced party, and was the first person seized by the enemy in arms, in 
the revolutionary war. Li consequence of these precautions, the troops 
remained undiscovered till within a mile and a half of this place, and 
when there was scarce time for the last messenger. Captain Thaddeus 
Bowman, to return with the tidings of their certain approach. 

A new, the last alarm, is now given : — the bell rings, — guns are fired 
in haste on the green, — the drum beats to arms. The militia, within 
reach of the sound, hasten to obey the call, sixty or seventy in number, 
and are drawn up in order, a very short distance, in rear of the spot, on 
which we stand. The British troops, hearing the American drum, re- 
gard it as a challenge, and are halted at the distance of one hundred 
and sixty rods, to load their guns. At the sight of this preparation, a 
few of the militia, on the two extremities of the line, naturally feeling 
the madness of resisting a force outimmbering their own, ten to one, 
and supposed to be near twice as large as it was, shewed a disposition 



20 

to retreat. Captain Parker ordered them to stand their ground, threat- 
ened death to any man who should fly, — but directed them not to fire 
unless first fired upon. The commanders of the British forces advance 
some rods in front of their troops. With mingled threats and oaths, 
they bid the Americans lay down their arms and disperse, and call to 
their own troops, now rushing furiously on, — the light infantry on the 
right of the church, in which we are now assembled, and the grenadiers 
on the left, — to fire. The order not being followed with instant obe- 
dience, is renewed with oaths and imprecations, — the officers discharge 
their pistols, — and the foremost platoon fires over the heads of the 
Americans. No one falls, and John Munroe, standing next to a kins- 
man of the same family name, calmly observed, that they were firing 
n')thing but powder. Another general volley, aimed with fatal preci- 
sion, succeeds. Ebenezer Munroe replied to the remark just made, 
that something more than powder was then fired, as he was shot him- 
s' If, in the arm. At the same moment, several dropped around them, 
killed and wounded. Captain Parker now felt the necessity of direct- 
inor his men to disperse ; but it was not till several of them had re- 
lumed the British fire, and some of them more than once, that this 
handful of brave men were driven from the field. 

Of this gallmt little company, seven were killed and ten wounded, a 
quarter part at least of the number drawn up, and a most signal proof 
of the firmness, with which tliey stood the Britisli fire. Willingly would 
I do justice to the separate merit of each individual of this heroic band ; 
but tradition has not furnished us the means. A few interesting anec- 
dotes have, however, been preserved. Jedediah Munroe was one of the 
wounded Not disheartened by this circumstance, instead of quitting 
the field, he marched with his company in pursuit of the enemy to Con- 
cord, and was killed in the afternoon. Ebenezer Munroe, Jr. received 
two wounds, and a third ball through his garments. William Tidd, 
the second in command of tiie company, was pursued by Major Pit- 
cairne, on horseback up the north road, with repeated cries to stop, or 
he was a dead man. Having leapt the fence, he discharged his gun at 
his pursuer, and thus compelled him in turn to take flight. Robert 
Munroe was killed with Parker, Muzzy, and Jonathan Harrington, on 
or near the line where the company was formed. Robert Munroe had 
served in the French wars. He was the standard-bearer of his com- 
pany at the capture of Louisbourg, in 1758. He now lived to see, set 
up for the first time, the banner of his country's Independence. He 
saw it raised amidst the handful of his brave associates ; alas, that he 
was struck down, without living like you, venerable survivors of that 
momentous day, to behold it, as it dallies with the wind and scorns the 
sun, blest of heaven and of men, — at the head of the triumphant hosts 
of America ! All hail to the glorious ensign ! Courage to the heart 
and strength to the hand, to which, in all time, it shall be entrusted ! 
May it forever wave in honor, in unsullied glory, and patriotic hope, on 
the dome of the capitol, on the country's strong holds, on the tented 
plain, on the wave-rocked top-mast. Wheresoever on the earth's sur- 
face, the eye of the American shall behold it, may he have reason to 
bless it. On whatsoever spot it is planted, there may freedom have a 
foot-hold, humanity a brave champion, and religion an altar. Though 
stained with blood in a righteous cause, may it never in any cause, be 



21 

stained with shame. Alike, when its gorgeous folds shall wanton in 
lazy holiday triumph, on the summer breeze, and its tattered fragments 
be dimly seen through the clouds of war, may it be the joy and pride 
of the American heart. First raised in the cause of right and liberty, 
in that cause alone, may it forever spread out its streaming blazonry to 
the battle and the storm. First raised in this humble village, and smce 
borne victoriously across the continent and on every sea, may virtue, 
and freedom, and peace forever follow, where it leads the way ! The 
banner which was raised, on this spot, by a village hero,* wns not tiiat, 
whose glorious folds are now gather round the sacred depository of the 
ashes of his brave companions. He carried the old provincial Hag of 
Massachusetts-Bay. As it had once been planted in triumpl), on the 
walls of Louisbourg, Cluebec, and Montreal, it was now raised in a 
New-England village, among a band of brave men, some of whom had 
followed it to victory in distant fields, and now rallied beneath it, in the 
bosom of their homes, determined, if duty called them, to shed their 
blood in its defence. May Heaven approve the omen. The ancient 
standard of Massachusetts Bay was displayed for the confederating 
colonies, before the Star-Sfangled Banner of the Union had been 
flung to the breeze. Should the time come, (which God avert,) when 
that glorious banner shall be rent in twain, may Massachusetts, who 
first raised her standard in the cause of United America, be the last by 
whom that cause is deserted ; and as many of her children, who first 
raised that standard on this spot, fell gloriously in its defence, so may 
the last son of Massachusetts, to whom it shall be entrusted, not yield 
it but in the mortal agony I 

Harrington's was a cruel fate. He fell in front of his own house, 
on the north of the common. His wife, at the window, saw him fall, 
and then start up, the blood gushing from his breast. He stretched 
out his hands towards her, as if for assistance, and fell again. Rising 
once more on his hands and knees, he crawled across the road towards 
his dwelling. She ran to meet him at the door, but it was to see him 
expire at her feet. Hadley and Brown were pursued, and fell, after 
they had left the common. Porter, of Woburn, was unarmed. He 
had been taken prisoner on the road, before the British army reached 
Lexington. Attempting to make his escape, when the firing com- 
menced, he was shot within a kw rods of the conunon. Four of the 
company went into the meeting-house which stood on this spot, for a 
supply of ammunition. They had brought a cask of powder from an 
upper loft into the gallery, and removed its head. At this moujent, 
the house was surrounded by the British force, and the discharge of 
musketry and the cries of the wounded announced that the work of 
death was begun. One of the four secreted himself in the opposite 
gallery. Another, Simonds, cocked his gun, and lay down by the 
open cask of powder, determined never to be taken alive. Comee and 
Harrington resolved to force tl.eir way from the liouse, and in this des- 
perate attempt, Comee was wounded and Harrington killed. History, 
— Roman history, — does not furnisli an example of bravery that out- 
shines that of Jonas Parker. A truer heart did not bleed at Ther- 
mopylcB. He was the next door neighbor of Mr. Clark ; and had 
evidently imbibed a double portion of his lofty spirit. Parker was often 

* Joseph Simonds was the ensign of Uie La-tiiigton company on tlie 19th of April 1775, 



22 

beard to say, that be the consequences what they might, and let others 
do what they pleased, he would never run from the enemy. He was as 
good as his word; — better. Having loaded his musiiet, he placed his 
hat, containing his ammunition, on the ground, between his feet, in read- 
iness for a second charge. At the second fire, he was wounded and 
sunk upon his knees ; and in this condition, discharged his gun. 
While loadmg it again, upon his knees, and striving in the agonies of 
death to redeen'i his pledge, he \vas transfixed by a bayonet; — and thus 
died on the spot where he first stood and fell. 

These were a portion of the terrors of this blood-stained field, but 
how shall I describe the agonizing scene which presented itself, that 
fearful night and the following day, to every family in Lexington 1 — 
The husband, the father, the brother, the son, gone forth on the errand 
of peril and death. The aged, the infirm, the unprotected, left, 
without a guardian, at the desolate fireside, at this dismal moment, 
awaiting the instant intelligence of some fatal disaster; — fainting under 
the exaggerated terrors of a state of things so new and trying ; — or 
fleeing half clad and bewildered to the covert of the neighboring woods, 
there to pass the ensuing day, famished, — exhausted, — distracted, — the 
prev of apprehensions worse than death. The work of destruction had 
begun. Who could assure them, that their beloved ones were not 
among the first victims 1 The British force had moved on towards 
Concord, and the citizens of Lexington had joined in the pursuit. What 
new dangers awaited them on the March? Tiie enemy was to return 
through their village, — exasperated with opposition, — what new horrors 
might not be expected from his vengeance 1 

Wl'.ile a considerable portion of the unarmed population of Lexing- 
ton, dispersed through the nearest villages, or wandering in the open 
air, behind the neighboring hills, and in the adjacent woods, were 
at the mercy of tliese apprehensions, the British column moved on to- 
ward Concord. The limits of the occasion put it out of my power to 
dwell, as I would gladly do, on the gallant resistance made at Concord, 
■ — the heroic conduct of Davis, Hosmer and Buttrick and their brave 
companions, — the rapid and formidable gathering of the population, 
the precipitate and calamitous retreat of the enemy. On the return of 
this anniversary, ten years ago, I endeavored, at the request of our 
fellow citizens of Concord, as far as I was able, to do justice to this 
interesting narrative, and to the distinguished and honorable part borne 
by the people of Concord, in the memorable transactions of the day. 
Time will only permit me now to repeat in brief, that the country 
poured down its population in every direction. They gathered on the 
hills, that overlooked the road, like dark lowering clouds, Every patch 
of trees, every stream, covert, building, stone wall, was lined, to use 
the words of a British othcer, with an unintermitted fire. A skirmish 
engaged the enemy, at every defile and cross road. Through one of 
them Governor Brooks led up the men of Reading. At another, Cap« 
tain Parker, with the Lexington militia, although seventeen of his 
number had been killed or wounded in the morning, returned to the 
conflict. Before they reached Lexington, the route of the invaders was 
complete; and it was only by placing themselves in the front, and 
threatening instant death to their own men, if they continued their 
flightt, that the British officer^ were abje in some degree to check thejf 



23 

disorder. Their entire destruction was prevented, by the arrival of 
reinforcements under Lord Percy, who reached Lexington, in time to 
rescue the exhausted troops, on their flight from Concord. Lord Percy 
brought with him two pieces of artillery, which were stationed on points 
commanding the road. A cannon shot from one of them passed through 
the meeting-house, which stood on this spot. These pieces were dili- 
gently served, and kept the Americans at bay ; but the moment the 
retreat was resumed, the whole country was again alive.* It was a 
season of victory for the cause, — auspicious of the fortune of the re- 
volution ; — but purchased with accumulated sacrifices on the part of 
Lexington. To cover their retreat, the British army set fire to the 
houses on the road ; some were burned to the ground ; several injured ; 
and three more of the brave citizens of Lexington were killed. 

At length the eventful day is passed, — the doleful tocsin is hushed, 
the dreadful voice of the cannon is still, — the storm has passed by. It 
has spent its fury on your devoted village, — your houses have been 
wrapped in flames, — your old men, women, and children, have fled in 
terror from their firesides, — your brave sons have laid down their lives 
at the threshold of their dwellings, and the shades of evening settle 
down upon your population, worn with fatigue, — heavy with bereave- 
ment and sorrow. What is the character, and what are the conse- 
quences of the day ? — It was one of those occasions, in which the 
duration of ages is compressed into a span. What was done and 
suffered, on that day, will never cease to be felt, in its ulterior conse- 
quences, till all that is America has perished. In the lives of individ- 
uals, there are moments, which give a cliaracter to existence ; — mo- 
ments too often through levity, indolence or perversity, suffered to pass 
unimproved ; but sometimes met with the fortitude, vigilance, and 
energy due to their momentous consequences. So in the life of nations, 
there are all important junctures, when the fate of centuries is crowded 
into a narrow space, — suspended on the results of an hour. With the 
mass of statesmen their character is faintly perceived, — their conse- 
quences imperfectly apprehended, — the certain sacrifices exaggerated, 
— the future blessings dimly seen ; — and some timid and disastrous 
compromise, — some faint-hearted temperament is patched up, in the 
complacency of short-sighted wisdom. Such a crisis was the period 
which preceded the 19lh of April. Such a compromise the British 
ministry proposed, courted, and would have accepted most thankfully, 
— but not such was the patriotism nor the wisdom of those who guided 
the councils of America, and wrought out her independence. They 
knew that in the order of that Providence, in which a thousand years 
are as one day, a day is sometimes, as a thousand years. Such a day 
was at hand. They saw, — they comprehended, — they welcomed it ; — 
they knew it was an era. They met it with feelings like those of Lu- 
ther, when he denounced the sale of indulgences, and pointed his 
thunders at once, — poor Augustine monk, — against the civil and eccle- 
siastical power of the church, the Quirinal and the Vatican. They 
courted the storm of war, as Columbus courted the stormy billows of 
the glorious ocean, from whose giddy curling tops, he seemed to look 
out, as from a watch-tower, to catch the first hazy wreath in the west, 

* See note B at the end. 



24 

which was to announce that a new world was found. The poor Augus- 
tine monk knew and was persuaded, that the hour had come, and 
he was elected to control it, in which a mighty revolution was to be 
wrought in the Christian church. The poor Genoese pilot knew in 
his heart, that he had as it were but to stretch out the wand of his 
courage and skill, and call up a new continent from the depths of the 
sea; — and Hancock and Adams, through the smoke and flames of the 
19th of April, beheld the sun of their country's independence arise, with 
healing in his wings. 

And you, brave and patriotic men, whose ashes are gathered in this 
humble place of deposit, no time shall rob you of the well deserved 
meed of praise ! You too perceived, not less clearly than the more 
illustrious patriots whose spirit you caught, that the decisive hour had 
come. You felt with them, that it could not, — must not be shunned. 
You had resolved it should not. Reasoning, remonstrance had been 
tried; from your own town-meetings, from the pulpit, from beneath the 
arches of Fanueil Hall, every note of argument, of appeal, of adjuration 
had sounded to the foot of the throne, and in vain. The wheels of destiny 
rolled on ; — the great design of Providence must be fulfilled ; — the issue 
must be nobly met or basely shunned. Strange it seemed, inscrutable 
it was, that your remote and quiet village should be the chosen altar 
of the first great sacrifice. But so it was ; — the summons came and 
found you waiting; and here in the centre of your dwelling places, 
within sight of the homes you were to enter no more, between the vil- 
lage church where your fathers worshipped, and the grave-yard where 
they lay at rest, bravely and meekly, like Christian heroes, you sealed 
the cause with your blood. Parker, Munroe, Hadley, the Harringtons, 
Muzzy, Brown : — Alas ! ye cannot hear my words ; no voice but that 
of the Archangel shall penetrate your urns ; but to the end of time 
your remembrance shall be preserved ! To the end of time, the soil 
whereon ye fell is holy ; and shall be trod with reverence, while Amer- 
ica has a name among the nations ! 

And now ye are going to lie down beneath yon simple stone, which 
marks the place of your mortal agony. Fit spot for your last repose ! 

Wliere shouhl the soWier rest, but wliere he fell I 

For ages to come, the characters graven in the enduring marble shall 
tell the unadorned tale of your sacrifice ; and ages after that stone 
itself has crumbled into dust, as inexpressive as yours, history — undying 
history, — shall transmit the record. Aye, while the language we speak 
retains its meaning in the ears of inen ; while a sod of what is now 
the soil of America shall be trod by the foot of a freeman, your names 
and your memory shall be cherished ! 



MOTES. 
Note A, to page 3. 

The following is the list of Captain Parker's company, as they stood enrolled 
on the 19th of April, 1775. 

Those marked with an asterisk, were present at the celebtatioa on the 20th 
of April, 1835. 



Blodget Isaac 

Bowman Francis 

Bridge John 

Bridge Joseph 

Brown Francis, sergeant, wounded 

Brown James 

Brown John, killed 

Brown Solomon, living 

Buckman John 

Chandler John 

Chandler John Jr. 

Child Abijah 

Comee Joseph, wounded 

Cutter Thomas 

*Durant Isaac, living 

Easiabrook Joseph 

Fessenden Nathan 

Fessenden Thomas 

*Fisk Dr Joseph, living 

Freeman Nathaniel, wounded 

Green Isaac 

Grimes William 

Had ley Benjamin 

Hadley Ebenezer 

Hadley Samuel, killed 

Hadley Thomas 

Harrington Caleb, killed 

Harrington Daniel, clerk 

Harrington Ebenezer 

Harrington Jeremiah 

Harrington John 

Harrington Jonathan 

Harrington Jonathan, jr. killed 

H Harrington Jonathan 3d, living 

Harrington Moses 

Harrington Thaddeus 

Harrington Thomas 

Harrington William 

Hastings Isaac 

*Hosmer John, living 

Lock Amos 

Lock Benjamin, living 

*Loring Jonathan, living 

Loriog Joseph 

Marrett Amos 

Smith Abraham 

Smith David 

Smith Ebenezer 

Smith JonathanJ 

Smith Joseph 

Smith Phineas 

Smith Samuel 

Smith Thaddeus 

Smith William 



*Mason Daniel, living 

Mason Joseph 

Mead Abner 

Merriaiii Benjamin 
Merriam VViJliam 

Mulliken Nathaniel 

Munroe Asa 

Munroe F.benezer 

Munroe Ebenezer jr , wounded 

Muurce Edmund, lieutenant 

Munroe George 

Munroe Isaac jr. killed 

Munroe Jedediah, wounded in morn'g, 
killed in the afternoon. 

Munroe John 

Munroe John jr 

Munroe Philemon 

Munroe Robert, ensign, killed 

Munroe William, orderly sg't. 

*Munroe William jr, living 

Muzzy Amo? 

*Parker Ebenezer, living. 

Parker John, captain 

Parker Jonas, killed 

Parker Thaddeus 

Parkhurst John 

Pierce Solomon, wounded 

Porter Asahel, of Woburn, killed 

Prince, a negro, wounded 

Raymond John, killed 

Robhins John, wounded 
Robbins Thomas 

Robinson Joseph 

Reed Han)mond 

Reed Josiah, living 
Reed Joshua 
Reed Nathan 
Reed Robert 
Reed Thaddeus 
Reed William 
Sanderson Elijah 
t Sanderson Samuel 
♦Simonds Ebenezer, living 

Simonds Josiah 
Simonds Joshua 
Tidd Samuel 
Tidd William 
Viles Joel 
White Ebenezer 
Williams John 
Wellington Benjamin 
Wellington Timothy 
Winship John 
Winship Simeon 



26 

Stearns Asabel Winship Thomas 

Stone Jonas Wyman J.^mes 

Tidd John, wounded Wyman iXalhaniel. 

Note B, to pp.ge 23. 

The proper limits of the occasion precluded a detail of tlie interesting oc- 
currences of the retreat and pursuit Irom Lexington to Charlesiown. Une por- 
tion of these were commemorated at Danvers on the 20th April 1835. Next 
to Lexington, Danvers suH'ered more severely than any other town. Seven of 
the Danvers company were killed. On the late return of the anniversary, the 
Corner Stone of a Monument to their memory was laid at Danvers, with affect- 
ing ceiemonieii, and a highly interesting address was deliveied, by Daniel P. 
King, Esq. of that place. 

The following return of all the killed and wounded is taken from the Appen- 
dix to Mr. Phinney's pamphlet : 

Lexingion. Killed i?! the morning. — Jonas Parker, Robert Munroe, 
Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Jr. Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, 
John Brown. — 7. 

Killed in the ajtefnoon. — Jedediah Munroe, John Raymond, Nathaniel 
Wyman. — 3. 

Wounded in the morning. — John Robbins, Solomon Pierce, John Tidd, 
Joseph t'omee, Ebenezer Munroe, Jr. Thos. Winship, Navhaniel Farmer, Prince 
Estabrook, Jedediah Munroe. — 9. 

Wounded in the oflernoon, — Francis Brown — 1. 

Cambridge. Killed. — Win. Marcy, Moses Richardson, John Hicks, 
Jason Russell, Jabez Wjman, Jason Winship. — 6. 
Wounded. — Samuel VV hittemore. — I. 
Missing. — Samuel Frost, Seth Russell. — 2. 

Concord. Wounded. — Charles Miles, Nathan Barnet, Abel Prescott. — 3. 
Nf.edham. — Lieut. John Bourn, Llisha Mills, Amos Mills, Nathaniel Cham- 
berlain, Jonaihan Parker. — 5. 

Wounded. Eleazer Kinsbury, Tolinan— 2. 

Sudbury. Killed — Josiah Haynes, Asahel Rted— 2. 
Wounded. Joshua Haynes, Jr. -1. 

AcroN. Killed. — Capl. Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, James Haywnrd. 3 
Bedford. Killed — Jonathan Wilson. 1. Wounded — Job lane. 1. 
WoBURN. Killed — Asahel Porter, Daniel Thompson. '?. 
Wounded. George Reed, Johnbiicon, Johnson. 3. 

Medfohd. ^Killed — Henry Putnam, W illiaiii 1 oily. 2. 
Chaklestow^n.^ Killed — James Miiler, »'. Barber's son. 2. 
Watertown. Killed — Jo.seph Coolidge. 1. 
Framiisgh.xm. Wounded — Daniel llemenway. 1. 
Dedham. Killed — Elias Haven, Wounded — Israel Everett. 
Stow. Wounded — Daniel Coiiant. 
Roxbury. Missing — Elijah Seaver. 
Brookline. Killed — Isaac Gmdner, Esq. 1. 
BiLbERiCA. Wounded — John Nickols, 'J iniolhy Blanchaid 
Chelmsford. Wounded — Aanm Chamberliiin, Oliver Barron. 2, 
Salem. Killed — Benjamin Pierce. 
iNEWTON. Wounded — iNoah VViswell. 

Danvers. Killed— tieiivy Jacobs, Samuel Coi.U, Ebenezer Goldlhwait, 
George Southwick, Benjamin Daland, Joiham Webb, I'erley Putnam. 7. 
Wounded. iNathan Putnam, Dennis Wallace. 2. 
Missing. Joseph Bell. 1. 
Bkverly. Killed. Reuben Kenyme. 1. 

Wou7ided. Nathaniel Cloves, Samuel Woodbury, William Dodge, 3d. 3, 
Lynn. Killed. Abedne^^o Ramsdell, Daniel 'lownsund, Wilham Flint, 
Thomas Hadley. 4, 

Wounded. .Joshua Fell, Timothy Munroe. 2. 
Missing. Josiah Breed. 1. 
Total. Killed 49.— Wounded S6.— Missing 5. 



APPENDIX. 



CELEBRATIONATLEXINGTON, 

20th April, 1835. 

[The following account of the celebration is taken principally from the 
"Bunker-Hill Aurora" of 25th April.] 

At a legal meeting of the inhabilanls of the town of Lexing- 
ton, on Monday, 28th of April, 1834. 

Art. 6. Voted unanimously to have the remains of those who were killed 
by the British army, on the morning of the 19;h April, 1775, removed, and 
re-entombed near the monument — (with the consent of their surviving rela- 
tions.) 

Voted, to choose a committee of nine persons, to carry the foregoing vote 
nto effect. The following gentlemen were chosen, viz: — 

En AS Phinney, Esq. Chairman. Messrs Charles Reed, 
Gen. Saml. Chandler. William Chandler, Esq. 

Maj. Benj. 0. Wellington. Ambrose Morrell, Esq. 

Benj. Muzzey, Esq. Col. Phillip Russell. 

Nathaniel Mulliken, Esq. Sec'y 

[Rev Charles Briggs, appointed by the town as Chairman of the Committee, 
was absent at the South, for the benefit of his health, and the committee were, 
therefore, deprived of his assistance.] 

The names of the persons whose Remains were enclosed in 
the Sarcophagus, were as follows, viz : — 

Jonas Parker, Robert Monroe, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan 
Harrington, Jr. Isaac Muzzey, Caleb Harrington, 
and John Brown. 
These persons belonged to Lexington, and were killed in the 
morning. Three other citizens of Lexington, were killed on 
the return of the British in the afternoon, viz : Jedediah Mon- 
roe, John Raymond, and Nathaniel Wyman. 

It appears that the bodies of the seven individuals belonging to 
Lexington, were originally enclosed in long wooden boxes, made 
of rough boards and buried in one grave, in a corner of the town 
burying-ground, separate and diptant from all other graves. — 
Many persons are now living who saw them buried, — among them 
several survivors of Capt. Parker's Company, (their associates,) 
and two daughters of Rev. Jonas Clark, maiden ladies, now re- 
siding in the paternal mansion, in which Hancock and Adams 
were for some time secreted. 

A few days prior to the late celebration, the remains of these 
bodies were disinterred, under the direction of the committee, for 
the purpose already stated — the sides of some of the coffins were 
found, retaining their original form, but in a state of almost com- 
plete dficay, — the bones appeared to be more or less decayed,— 



28 

the sculls and large bones were all in a more perfect state than 
had been anticipated,— the under jaw-bones and teeth were the 
most perfect. The remains were first placed in a wooden coffin, 
which was enclosed in lead and made air tight — and the whole 
in a mahogany sarcophagus, 4 feel long by 2 feet wide ; on the 
sides and ends of whicli were eight urns, bearing ihe names and 
emblematical of the individuals wliose'^remains were contained 
within. A deposit was nui'le in the Sarcophagus of a thick lead- 
en box, hermeticail)' sealed, containing the following articles viz: 
a copy of ihe liistory ol ihe battle of Lexington, by Elias Phinney 
Esq — a sketch of the exercises and odes of the day — a copy 
of the Bunker-Hill Aurora, and of the Concord Whig, of the Sat- 
urday previous — the nan»es of the Pre.-.ident of the U. Slates, of 
the Lt. Governor (and acting Governor) of Massachusetts, and 
of the clergymen of Lexington. To receive the Sarcophagus, 
a tomb was construrted near the foundation of the jVionument. 

Salutes and minute guns were fired at intervals during the 
morning, and flags raised in honor of the occasion, were waving 
at half-masi, until the elose of the funeral services. At an early 
hour the village was filled with visiters to the number of several 
thousand. Public ar,d private houses were all occupied, and 
had the day been pleasant, it is believed a very much larger 
number of strangers would have been present. 



At about 1 1 o'clock, the Procesjsion was formed, under a mil- 
itary escort consisting ol ihe Lexington Artillery and a Volunteer 
Company of Light Infantry, commanded by Capt. J. F. LeBar- 
on and Capt. Billings Smith, near the Monument House. The 
invited guests had assembled at ihe dwelling house of Gen. Chan- 
dler, and from thence formed in Procession. The processiofk 
moved, under a light shower of rain, to the burying ground, uhere 
the seven victims of ihfi battle were originally interred. 

Here the Sarcophagus, containing their remains, was placed 
on the hearse, the Band performing ajjpropriate music during the 
ceremony, and the procession reformed in the following order : 

Military Fscort, with the Boston Band. 

Pall Bearers. SARCOPHAGUS. Pall Bearers. 

Relatives of the deceased. 

Survivors ol Capt. Parker's Company. 

Aid — Chief Marshal — Aid. 

Chair.'iian Coinmiltee of Arrangements. 

Ch.ipta in — Oh A TOR — Chapla in. 

CornmiltLe of Arrangements. 

Li. Governor and Aids. 

Senaloi's and Representatives in Congress. 

Judges of the ijupreme Court of the United States. 

Judges of the Massachusetts Courts and .Attorney GeneraL 

President and I'ellows of Harvard College. 

|Members of Slate Legislature. 

Oiticers and Soldiers of the Revolution. , 

Officers of the Army, Navy and Militia. 

Clergy and other invited guests. 

^ Citizens and Strangers. 



29 

On arriving at the Church, (which stands on a part of the bat- 
tle field, built in 1794,) the military opened to the right and left; 
the Sarcophagus' was placed in the broad-aisle, and the Proces- 
sion entered. The pulpit was occupied by the Chaplain and the 
Reverend Clergy. In front of the pulpit a platform had been 
raised for the Orator ; and on each side of him on the platform 
were seated the Survivors of Captain Parker's Company. The 
galleries were occupied exclusively by the Ladies. Notwith- 
s;andii)g the unpromising state of the weather on the preceding 
day and in the morning, the church was very much crowded, and 
a platform having been erected around it, the windows were also 
filled with hearers. The following was the 

ORDER OF EXERCISES. 

Dirge — By the Choir. 

Prayer — By Rev. James Walker. 

Ode — By Rev. John Pierpont. 

Tune — " America.", 
Long, in a nameless grave, 
Bones of the true and brave ! 

Have ye reposed. 
This day, our hands have dressed. 
This day, our prayers have blessed 
A chamber tor your rest ; 
And now 'lis closed. 

Sleep on, ye slaughtered ones ! 
Your spirit, in your sons, 

Shall guard your dust, 
While winter comes in gloom. 
While spring returns with bloom, 
Nay — till this honored tomb 

Gives up its trust. 

When war's first blast vias heard, 
These men stood forth to guard 

Thy house, O God ! 
And now, thy house shall keep 
Its vigils where they sleep, 
And still its shadow sw^p 
O'er their green sod. 

In morning's prime they bled ; 
And morning tinds their bed 

With tears all wet : 
Tears that thy hosts of light, 
R ising in order bright. 
To watch their tomb all night, 

Shed for them yet. 

Naught shall tlieir slumber break: 
For 'they shall not awake. 

Nor yet be raised 
Out of their sleep,' before 
Thy heavens, now arching o'er 
Their couch, shall be no more. — 

ThX name be PBAI9EP 5 

3* 



30 

Oration — By Hon. Edward Everett. 
Ode— By Miss H. F. Gould. 

Tune — " .Araby's Daughter." 

They coroe from the grave to attest to the story 

That we, of their strujigle for Liberty, tell ! — 
From silence and shade ihut her mantle of glory 

May fold o'er the first of her Martyrs who fell ! 

They come that the halm of her breath may perfume them. 

And peacefully then to return to their rest ; — 
That we, from her arms, may receive and entomb them, 

Assured that they once have reposed on her breast. 

All hail, sacred Relics ! from sixty years sleeping 
Beneath the green luif, where so freely ye bled ; 

Who, shrouded in gore, still the battle ground keeping. 
Forsook not the field, tliough your vital fire fled ! 

In valour's proud bed, with its rich purple o'er you, 
The first blood for Freedom that gu^htd on the sod. 

Ye lay, when the souls, to the onset that bore you, 

Had passed with her cause, through your wounds, to their G»J. 

Behold, blessed Spirits, who, nobly defending 
Your countr\ , rushed torlh from your dwellings of clay. 

The tribute of sorrow and joy we are blending 
To you, o'er their dear hallowed ruins, to pay '. 

The hearts of a nation, your monument rearing. 

Have built it of gratitude, fair and subliri e. 
It rises to heaven, your honored n:mies bearing, 

With earth not to sink, nor to ciuiuble wiili time. 

The ground, that, as brothers, in pain je were sewing, 

Iniliosoiiied the seed lor a root firm arid deep. 
When life's crimson fountains were opened and flowing 

To moisteii the soil for the harvest we reap ! 

Forgive then, the view that we take, ere we sever 
from these brol<en walls, ihal for us \e forsook ! 

On tliLMH or their like a^ain never, O never. 
Are we, or the e^e mat is mortal, to look ! 

We give them to earth, li'l the Saviour descending 

With beauty for ashes and glory for gloom. 
Shall speak, Ahile the dead to his voice are attending, 

And life, light, and freedom, are poured through the tomb I 

After the close of the Exercises in (lie Church, the procession 
was again ronneci as helore nnd moving aromid the enclosed iiat- 
tle field to the Moouinciii, the Sarcophagus was placed vNithiti 
the iron railing, in a tomb of stone niasnnry, pre[)ared lo receive 
it. Three volleys of musketry were then fired over the grave, 
j!>nd the procession moved on to the Marquee, erertfri near the 
Monument House, where a Coilatiun was provided for about 600 
persons. 



3J 

.1 

THE MARQUEE 

Was (if an oblong shape, witli enwieallied pillar.s in the centre 
and an elevated table at the head. There were seven rows of 
tables, containing nearly 100 plates each, which v\ere all occu- 
pied. Tlie marquee was decorated wiih flaus, evergreens and 
trees, in a very neat and simple manner. At llie iiead, were the 
following inscriptions : 

THE BIKTH-PL.\CK OF AMERICAN LIBERTY: 
OUR COUNTKY AND OUR CON.STITUTION. 

On the side of the niarquee, riolu of the President, were the 
names of Washington, Adan)s, Hancock, Franklin. On the 
left, Lafayette, Jefferson, Warren, Kosciusko. PSear the head of 
the Marquee, on the n^ht and left of the Pres^ident were the 
names of the Governors of \las:^achii!selts : right, Hancock, 
Bowdoin, S. Adams, Sutnner, Strong, Sullivan ; left, Gore, Ger- 
ry, Brooks, Eustis, l.mcoln, Diivis. The appearance of the 
interior of the Marquee, was very apjiropriale and suitable to 
the occasion, and was crediialde to lliose undnr whose superin- 
tendence this part oftlir' arrangement v\asrn;ide. 

We undorstand that the painted motiocs, &c. in the Marqtiee 
were politely prepared and funiislied lor tiie occasion, by Mr 
John Green, Jr of Host"n ; the flags and other deciiratious 
were loaned by Messrs Samuel liooDRiCM, and Albeut Fealing, 
& Co. Several beautiful bouquets were received from the jireen 
house of Mr Cushing of Watertov\n and V\ in^hip's of Bri;^hton, 
which added very much to the appearance of the tables. 

Great credit is due to V-r Hay ward, ol the Monument House, 
for the excellent collation which he provided on the occasion — 
We have rtever seen a public colliitiou, on .>io extensive a scale, 
better piepared. 'J'he company was amply supplied with every 
thing they could wi.«h, served up in the best manner. We be- 
lieve all were satisfied with this part of the proceedings of the 
day. 

Elias Phinney, Esq. Chairman of the Committee of Arran^^r- 
ments, presided at the tables. On each side of the I'resident, 
the invited guests were seated, including Lt . Gov. Armstrong, 
and Aids, Orator and Chaplains, Mr Webster, Judge Story, Pre- 
•sident Quincy, Attorney General Austin, Adj. Gen. Dearborn, 
A. H. Everett of Boston, and others. 'I'he veteran survivors of 
the revolution were provided with seats at the head of the centre 
tables. A blessing was asked by Rev. Henvy Ware, Jr. 

At the close of the cullalioo, the Pre::iulent of the Day ad- 
dressed the assemblage. 

He remarked that the occurrences and congregation of this day were calculated 
to deepen our feelings of veneration for ihe events comineinoraled. It had been an 
occasion for the exercise of generous fcr-ilngs in the discharge of an honor due to 
the glorious de»d. He was sure he could not render a more acceptable service to 
his fellow-citizens assembled, ihan to return tiieir grateful acknowledgments to the 
distinguished guests who hud honored the occasion by their presence, and particu- 
larly to him whose unrivalled eloqui.ncc had engaged our attention and stirred our 



S2 

feelings. The solemn ceremonies of this day would remind us of our ohiigation? to 
th«se who spilled iheir blood in the first offering at the shrine of Liberty. It waa 
an offering, however humble in itself, the precursor of great events and consequen- 
ces to our Country and ihe world. He llierelore propored as a sentiment — 

The names oj those who fell in this first fight for Liberty — The 
Harringtons, JMonroe, Parker, Biowii, Muzzey, and Hadley — 
these names %vill ever remain honored and cherished, and while 
the names of other heroes shall be forgotten, these will he grate- 
fully remembered so long as palriotistn shall exist or liberty find 
a friend. 

The President then gave the following complimentary senti- 
ment to Lt. Gov. Arn. strong : His Honor the Lt. Governor — Hia 
public elevation is biit thejiist reward of his private worth. 

Gov. ARMSTRONG remarked that the Oratoi of the Day had called to mind 
in ati elo(|uent and forcible manner, the singular success which followed the cause 
of liberty, and the price of blood at which it was obtained ; but great as that 
price was, he bdieved that even that price was not sutificieHt to purchase the liber- 
ties we uiiw enjoy. He offered the fidlowing sentiment — 

Reliii'ious and Civil Liberty ~'r\\*i bountiful donations of Al- 
mighty God — may we prove ourt^elves worthy recipients of the 
gilts of the (jiiver. 

A Hymn, accompanied by the Piano Forte, was »ung by Geo. 
W. Utxcm, in the air of the "Marseilles Hymn." 

In announcing the followmg seutiiiienf, Mr. Phinney, Presi- 
dent of the Day, remarked : 

Among the numerous bl(!ssiiigs secured to us by our invaluable Constitution, there 
is no one, perhaps, upon which the permanency of free institutions so essentially 
depends as that of an Independent National Juiiiciary. The Judges of that august 
tribunal, selected from the whole people, foi their distinguished patriotism, talent 
and integrilv, may well be considered the pride and boast ol our country. While 
they are allowed to exercise the powers vested in iheni by the Constitution, our lib- 
erties are safe, — safe I'rom the aibiirary assumption of power on one liand and the 
licentiousness ol the people on the other. Allow me to of?'er you as a sentiment — 

The Jud<ns of ihe Supreme Court of the United Stales — A Con- 

stellalioii, whose brightest star is in the East. 

Judge STORY replied to this sentiment. He viewed it as a homage, not to an 
individual, but to the law itself, of wliich those who fell at Lexington, and their 
associates, were the proud asseiters and the proud niaintainers. This is the spot, 
where, in defence of law, the first blood was spilt, which lead to our independence. 
He considered that the people rose in support of law ; that the three-pence a pound 
tax on tea was nothing, to the great principle involved in its admission ; that the 
people regarded it as unconstitutional and unjust to be taxed without rejjresenta- 
lioii, and therefore resisted it. He believed that the revolution commenced in the 
town meetings of Massachusetts, where the rights ot' the people were considered 
and discnssecl. So was it understood by the English Parliament, which in 1774, 
passed a law to prohibit the town meetings of Massachusetts, except for the neces- 
sary purpose of choosing town oHicers. He quoted a part of the Preamble to this 
law, stating that tlie people had been misled into a mischievous and unwarrantable 
interference with subjects not connected in the regular business they were asseni- 
l)led to do ; and made some appropriate remarks upon this " unwarrantable and 
mischievous taking of the subjects of liberty, right and constitutional law, into their 
own hands. He then alluded to the Oration of Mr. Kverett, which he considered 
one oftlie happiest elforts of his lile, and concluded with the following sentiment ; 

The Orator of the Day — Truly, in the language of another as 

quoted by himself, the day is come and the man is come — " What 

a glorious Day is this ."' 

[These words were used by Samuel Adams. Mr. Everett had stated that Adams 
and Hancock were at Rev. Mr. Clark's house when the attack of the British were 



33 

made, at Lexinftton. It was supposed to be oneobjert of tlie British detaciiment, 
to secure ilicir piiisons. They therefore, by the urgent persuasions of tlieir 'riends, 
were induced lo leave Mr. Clark's house for a safer retreat— on ihe way, hearing 
the firing, Adams, " whose prophetic soul saw that liberty and iudepeudence must 
follow," cried out, " What a glorious morning is this !" 

The President introcluced tUe following sentiment ; — 
TJie Orator of the Baij—Ut^ has done ample jusiice lo the men 
whose individual characters he has lliis day ewlojri.sed — he has 
thrown a halo of wlory around humble deeds, more enduring than 
the granite which covers their remains. 

Mr. EVERETT briefly returned thanks for the kind terms, in wliirh his efforts 
had been noticed ; but would not take up the time ot the company on a subject so 
unimportant, as what personally conceriieii liimselt. He would i all. er lake ad\antage 
of the opportunity of addressing ihe compaiiv, to pay his humble tribute of respect 
to the venerable survivors of the 19th of April, 1775. He rejoiced to be tbie to 
state, that of those enrolled in Captain Parker's Company of .Militia, on that day, 
twelve were still living, of whom two oidy, — one living at a great distance, and 
one on account of the infirmities of age, — were absent, and the remaining ten now 
honored the company with their presence. Ho was sure he shoidd gratily every 
person present, by repeating their names. Tiiey were Dr Joseph Fiske, Messrs. 
Daniel Mason. Benjamin Locke, William Munroe, Jonathan Harrington, Ebene- 
zer Simouds, Jonathan Loring, John Hosmer, Isaac Dnrant, Josiah Reed. Mr. 
Solomon Brown and Ebenezer Parker were absent. Having namfd these 
venerable persons, who had been spared by Gracioi\s Providence to so advanced 
an age, and to participate in tlie celebration of this memorable anniversary, he 
would only add farlher, as a sentiment ; — 

The health of the Survivors oj Cuptain Parkerh Company — 
May they experience in the feelings, with which tiiey are met 
this day, some compensation for the an.xiety, perils, and .sufTer- 
ing of the 19th of /. pril, 1775. 

The President of the Day introduced the following sentiment, 
by remarking — 

I am confident my fellow citizens of Lexington will cordially unite with me in 
offering a tribute of profound respect lo the distinguished Senator, whose participa- 
tion has given an increased interest to ihe ceremonies of ihis occasion. If any cir- 
cumstance can magnify the importance of the solemn events we commemorate, it 
is the respectful notice of those whose exalted wisdom and patriotism enable them 
to discern and duly to appreciate their value — Allow me then to say ; 

Hon. Daniel Webster — His unshaken integrity and gigantic 
powers of mind are surpassed by nothing in firmness andstienglh 
but the everlasting hills of his own native Siate. 

Mr WEBSTER rose on the announcement of this sentiment, and was received 
with the applause of the whole audience, From the very imperfect notes which 
we were enabled to take, we cannot presume to give a correct sketch ol his re- 
marks. We can only mention some of the points touched upon. He esteemed it 
a pleasure and an honor to be invited to be present on this occasiim of great inter- 
est. He supposed there could be no man in this Republic who entertained a just 
estimate of the value of Liberty, or a just eslimale of its cost, who could contemplate 
the history of Lexington battle, without strong emotions. Vie inferred this troni 
the natural course of his own feelings. It was now many years since he, when a 
young man, unknown in this Common wealth, and without a single acquaintance in 
this village, passed a whole day in viewing this scene of holy martyrdom, and in 
meditating upon the results consequent, to his country and tlie world, from that 
great drama, whose first scene was acted heie. He could suppose that from the 
Atlantic to the untrodden wilderness, fr<mi ihe f;»rlhest East lo ihe Gulf of Mexico» 
there was not an American citizen, who doe.s not possess and I'eel a. degree of hap- 
piness, and hope for posterity, intimately connected with iheoccurrence transacted 
on this spot. He confessed he was not able lo limit even to this continent his view 
of the conseqtiences of this cominencemeiii of the revolutionary war. It was de- 
signed and accomplished under great hazards, trials, and with wonderful success, 
for the universal cause of liberty. A new world and new state of society was 



34 

brouglit to light. It sprung up, not like the natural Sun in the East, but a politi- 
cal Sun in the West, as suie to diffuse its light and accomplish its purpose, as the 
naUir^il Sun over our heads. It comnienced on the Western sh'ire of the Atlantic, 
to gladden those who tirst saw the light, and re-act upon the old continent. Ame- 
rica will yet pay hack in this liijht, the debt she owes for all the knowledge, sci- 
ence, and intelli<ience of every description, whicii she h;is received (Vom Europe. 

He spoke of the manner in which civil and ccmstiiutional law was understood in 
the early days of our revoluliini. Those early appeals lo arms, he said, were not 
accidental — they were founded in principle, and began in the place vvheie we are 
now happilv met together. The place, the details, so interesting, which we had 
heard (Vorn the voice of eloquence, had filled him with meditation. He could not 
but think alter gi'ueralions would consider us, notwiihslanding what we had done 
loo slow, toT inanimate, too little alive to the great events of the revolution which 
commenced here. It was delightful to contemplate the characters of the military 
leaders of those days, exerting themselves, so differently from the military|leader3 
«l history, to secure the rights and liberties of the people. The effects of their 
noble example are felt among the nations of Europe, where not an effort, in behalf 
of the people is made, not a stroke is struck, without reference is ni.ide to Ame- 
rica. Mr Webster concluded his remarks, of which we know our sketch is very 
meagre and incomplete, with the lollowing sentiment : — 

Lexiimton Common — In 1775, a fiuld of blood — in all after time 
a field ot glory. 

The Prksident announced the following : — 

Josiak Qu'tncy, Jr. who died April 26, 1775, among the first 
born of the champions of American Liberly^ — Like the martyra 
whose memory we this day celebrate — he saw but the dawn of 
that light lie prized hijhor than life. I!is sons come to honor, 
but he kiiowelh it not. Peace to his ashes ! 

Hon. JOSIAH QUINCY, President of Harvard College, being called upon for 
a sentiment, lejiuirked that after what had been said by distinguished gentlemen ia 
the church and at this table, it would not be expected o( hini that he should make a 
.display or a speech. Tt was time for feeling — a time for thought — a moment of 
delight — a moment to applaud. He should, therefore, simply reciprocate the sen- 
timent of the chair — 

The town of Lexington — Where brave men are raised, and brave 
meti honored. 

Attorney General AUSTIN being called upon by the President, said — Suppose 
the rebnried dead, while their bones were resting in the body of the church, and 
amidst the multitude of people, had revived and addressed the living assembly ! — 
The remark is not a strange one, said he, we read in sacred story of the bones of 
thedead reviving, and why might not these bones have again assumed life ! In 
what language, think ye, would they have addressed the assembly. If they had 
said one word, it would have been, tliat the spirit of liberty must be preserved by 
the people wh,) enjoy it! Who were they, whose bones we have this day honored ? 
Were they the eminent, the distinguished, great and honored ? INo sir, no ! 'I"hey 
were the people — individuals of the people ! They had been taught and had learn- 
ed the lesson that, if they would enjoy life and liberty, they must.by their own arm 
and strength, by their courage and the blessing of God, obtain and preserve it for 
themselves. Lel^us learn from their new made grave, this important lesson, here 
to enjoy what thev have enabled us to possess. It is not enough lor us to say, we had 
noble and brave ancestors— let it be said by our posterity, by those who come after 
us, sixty vears hence, that they too had noble and generous ancestors. Liberty 
must be suppoited with Law, and Law with Liberty. 

Thedetail which we heard this rtay in the meeting house, shows not only that the 

men did their duty, but that the women did theirs also ; that while the men were 

toiling and breasting the foe in the field, there were Jiearts at home bleeding, and 

almosl bursting with anxiety, and hands toiling too, for their country. He gave 

. therefore as a sentiment — 

Tke Feinilts of L2x/no:/on— Worthy mothers of an honorable 
progeny. 



35 

The Rev. Mr STETSON, after a very happv allusion to the last toast, offered 
some remarks in reference to the Puritans, and quoting the words of tlie address, 
gave as a sentiment. 

The last of the Puritans — Samuel Adams. 

Mr VVEB.STER, made somj remarks upon the opening of the revoUuion — the 
separate ciiaracter of the colonial governments — the extent of counlry — the union 
and exertion which took place for the common cause of liberty, &c. and concluded 
by offering the following sentiment: — 

The libei'ty and union of the United States — May both be per- 
petual. 

This was the last sentiment announced at the table. The guests retired, and 
the company sepaiated, highly gratified with the success and happy teimination of 
the day, notwithstanding the unpropitious slate of the weather in the early part of 
it. Great credit is justly due to the vij^orous exertions of the individual members 
of the Committee of Arrangements, alike for the judicious, and liberal character of 
their arrangements, and for the energetic manner in which Ihey carried them into 
complete effect. From the peculiar ciiaracter of the celebration, combining in it- 
self the two great features of funeral ceremony and a civil celebration, their duties 
were necessarily numerous, responsible and difficult. The arrange^nients engaged 
their almost undivided attention for several weeks, and they devoted themselves to 
it with a zeal and interest worthy of the occasion, and highly to the credit of them-^ 
selves and the town of Lexington. The success which in so eminent a degree 
crowned their labors, is to us the best proof we can have of the judicious and 
effective character of their arrangements, and to them (he best reward for the time 
and toil which they have generously bestowed upon them. 



THE POWDER HORN.— [From the Bunker-Hill Aurora.] 

Among the interesting nii^mentos of the 19ih of April, 1775, to which the atten- 
tion of the company assembled at Lexington, on the late anniversary, was culled, 
was the Powder Horn, worn by Mr James Hayward, of Acton, who was kill- 
ed in Lexington, during the pm-suit, and which was pert"orated by the ball, that en- 
tered Mr Hayward's body. Mr Eveiett observed, that he had been requested by 
the owner of this interesting relic, M." Stevens Hayw.ird, of Acton, (the nephew 
of the perso), by wliom it was worn on ine 19;h of April, '75) to eshihit to the 
company, and to mention its his orv. Before doing so, Mr E. asked leave to state, 
that tl>e number of ficts connected with the occasion, they were met to celebrate, 
was so great, that he hail, in preparing his .address, been somewhat embarrassed, 
in making a selection, which coidd be Iproii^ht within the reastniable limits of such 
a performance. He had confined himself, of necessity, in a great degree to those 
facts, which hail an immediate connection with the village ol Lexington; it being 
quite impossible to bring into the narrative all the transactions of that eventful 
day. He ought, however, in justice to himself, to observe, th.it he had intended 
to allude briefly to the incidents of the resistance made to the British troops at 
Concord, — the bravery evinced by the citizens of that^piace and the neigliborhood, 
— the gallantry of Davis, Hosnier, I5uttiiik, and others, and in a word, the honor- 
able part borne by Concord in the tiansactions of the day. He had also intended 
to glance at the precipitate and calamitious retreat of the enemy, and the impor- 
tant occurrences on the line of their flight, through Lexington back to Boston. — 
Having reached that part of his address, his strength failed liim, and he » as obliged 
abruptly to hasten to a close, — which he hoped would be considered by all, who 
took a peculiar interest in those portions of the affecting history of that day, as a 
sufficient apology for the seeming neglect. 

The interesting relic which he had been requested to exhibit to the company, 
was vs'orn by Mr James Hayward of Acton, who. on the night of the 18th, on hear- 
ing the alarm ol the movement of the royal troops, started, with his father, — like 
all the brave yeomen of the neighborhood, moving without the commands of any 



field ofifioer, and driven by tlie impulse of individual enlhusiasm to sliaie 'n the 
conflict. Mr Hayvvard joined in tlie hot pursuit from (Concord. At the foot of 
Fiske's Hill, in Lexington, being tiiiisty, lie was about passing ihe west window 
of llie house, still standing at the foot of the hill, toward the well in front of the 
house. A British soldier, who was in the house, for the purpose of plunder, per- 
ceived hirn through the window, and stept to the door to cut liini off as he passed 
the corner of the house. They levelled their pieces and fired at the same moment. 
The British soldier was killed on the spot ; Mr Hayward received ihe ball, which 
passed through his powdei- horn, driving the splinters before it into his bodj , and 
languished eight hours. It appeared that of a pound of powder, which he had ta- 
ken with him, the whole was nearly fired away, and that but two or three of fortj 
bullets, with which he had started, remained. This fact shews the extraordinary 
severity of the pursuit. Another fact nianifestsflhe high feeling of thecountry. Mr 
Hayward died as cruel a death, as man could suffer; but retaining his reason to the 
last, repeatedly exclaimed, " that he was happy to die in the del'enceof his rights." 
These details were communicated to Mr E in a letter from Mr Stevens Havward, 
the nephew of the sufferer ; and who was led to make the communication, at the 
suggestion of the Rev. J. T. Woodbury of Acton. Like other traditions of the 
day, this shows how widely and unanimously the country was moved, and pointedly 
indicate the sentiment, with which Mr E. begged leave to conclude — 

Lexinijton, Concord, and the neighboring (owns: — may the 
common sufferings and efforts of 177.5, prove a common bond of 
harmony and good feeling at the present day. 



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